90 & not out.

As I write this entry I find myself sitting in Adelaide Airport. A place I have become very familiar with over my life, especially over the last 10 years. As a matter of fact, it was exactly 10 years ago that I was traveling around Europe for the first time. Who knew then I would get to see the things that I have, now live in Melbourne and be a Nurse! Crazy.

I have a love/hate relationship with airports.

They represent all that is good and bad about travel. The good being the duty free shops that entice you in and beckon you with their tax free goods. The sense of excitement you get as you are walking towards your gate awaiting your adventure and most importantly the long or even short awaited reunions with loved ones.

On the other hand they also represent hours of waiting, frustrations of delayed flights/lost luggage and the other flip of the coin, Goodbyes. They don’t necessarily get easier, I just think the more that you travel the better you become at pretending they do. As I sit here after yet another goodbye, it is hard not to reminisce over my life and the last 4 days that I have spent in Adelaide. So what is it that has bought me back this time?! My Nana’s birthday, and not just any birthday, but her 90^th, something of which I think she should be proud.

It was about 3 weeks ago, when I received a phone call from my Mum saying that Nana had been admitted to hospital. She took a tumble out of a car when being dropped home and as my last living Grandparent I rushed back to Adelaide to show my support and make sure that she was alright. For those of you that have ever had the pleasure of meeting my Nana, you will know that she is a feisty and fiercely independent woman. Having been widowed almost 30 years ago, she has lived by herself in the family home and been quite the social butterfly. Playing tennis well into her seventies, there is no wonder she has been fighting fit up until now. So seeing her helpless and in pain in the emergency room was a rude shock and almost too hard to bear. As someone that spends way too much time of my life in hospitals, I have become a little bit blasé about the things I see. It is amazing how quickly this changes when you are suddenly on the other side as the worried relative and everything is out of your hands. So being able to come back to help her celebrate her 90^th birthday has been extra special.

Coming back this time, it has also been a time of reunions. Seeing relatives and family friends I haven’t seen in years has certainly brought back a sense of nostalgia, but also one of unity. This has been cemented by the fact that my mother and I spent a day going through boxes of my old belongings that have found a home in my parents’ shed. 

Four years ago, when I was living in London, the pipes burst in the ceiling if their house rendering it to be unliveable for 6 months whilst it was being fixed. So as a result, everything I had at my parents’ house that was not destroyed was boxed up and placed in the shed, where it has been until this day.

As we eagerly opened each box like a child on Christmas morning, I was overwhelmed by the memorabilia of the last 29 years of my life. Emotions and memories I had as a child and teenager came flooding back with such veracity, it was almost too much to handle. Photos, old toys, high school letters, souvenirs, travel documents, school books, uni books; each bringing back their own specific memories of times I thought I had forgotten, but had merely stored in the depths of my mind. Something of particular significance was a handful of cards, thrown matter of factly, without thought into one of the many boxes. 

They were cards congratulating my parents of the birth of their new baby girl - Emma.

I must admit sitting there looking through these cards from people I don’t know/remember was a little surreal. Just as I was making my way through the pile I found a little card with my birth details. It was the exact card that had been placed on my crib in the Hospital when I was born 29 years ago. Seeing the excitement on my mum’s face upon this discovery was priceless.

To me it was a simple reminder of what is important in life.

People.

We are all someone’s child, once beautifully innocent and sweet, needing protection in the world. Some of us grow up to have families of our own, becoming mothers & fathers, while others may not. Some of us grow old, others not so old.

At the end of the day, we all have a story to tell and as I sat with my Nana as she was celebrating her 90^th Birthday surrounded by loved ones you realise, it’s the people in your world who share, listen to and even participate in these stories that make life worthwhile.